The whys and why nots of taking primary pupils on a farm visit

In keeping with Scottish education historically, the importance of outdoor learning is emphasised in the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) guidelines (Beames et al., 2009). There had been an apparent decline in time spent outdoors by pupils (Ross et al., 2007), and the guidelines seemed to offer an opportunity to address this. The CfE curriculum design principles also emphasised relevant learning. Since around 80% of Scottish land is agricultural (Scottish Government, n.d.), and the food and drink industry makes a major contribution to the economy (FDFS, n.d.), learning about food and farming is clearly relevant. Furthermore, in Scotland as elsewhere, there have been concerns about children’s understanding of where food comes from (e.g. Dillon et al., 2003).